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Our Reconciliation Journey… So Far
Learning, listening, and building relationships through food, community, and shared foundational values.
The Kimberley Cranbrook Food Network works within the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa Nation and the homelands of the Métis Nation.
As a network focused on land, food, and community, we understand reconciliation as connected to our work — not separate from it. Conversations about food security, farming, gardening, and local economies in this region also involve Indigenous food systems, land history, and the ongoing impacts of colonization.
This page reflects some of the conversations, relationships, and resources that have helped shape our learning so far. It is not intended as a final statement, but as part of an ongoing process of listening, reflection, and relationship building — work that continues to evolve over time, and that we hope can also be useful to others exploring these topics.
Territory Acknowledgement: Moving Beyond Words
In updating our territory acknowledgment practices — as individuals, within our organizations, and collectively as a network — we have been guided by Len Pierre’s Transformative Territory Acknowledgement Guide, which challenges us to move beyond scripted or performative acknowledgements toward reflection, accountability, and action.
In Len Pierre’s guide and related presentations, territory acknowledgements are framed as something that can evolve:
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from institutional scripts,
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to personal reflection,
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to transformative acknowledgement that recognizes colonial systems and settler privilege.
We continue to reflect on how we acknowledge territory in ways that are meaningful, relational, and connected to action, and we encourage exploring Len Pierre Consulting’s website for additional resources and learning opportunities related to transformative territory acknowledgement practices.
We also encourage visiting the website of the Ktunaxa Nation Council and exploring their frameworks, teachings, language resources, and community initiatives as a way to deepen understanding of the Ktunaxa Nation and the lands we live and work on.
Ongoing Conversations With Jared Basil
Since 2023, members of KCFN have had the privilege of learning with Jared Basil of Eagle Eye Group.
Jared is a Cultural Framework Educator who supports organizations and communities on their journey toward reconciliation through cultural safety education, dialogue, and facilitation.
Through our sessions together, we have explored themes such as:
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The Ktunaxa food story — and how food systems changed through colonization.
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The tension between extractive systems and reciprocity-based worldviews.
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The impact of “trophy” mentalities versus long-term stewardship for the health of future generations.
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The relationship between food, land, culture, and spirituality.
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How values-based alignment and reciprocity can help make reconciliation an ongoing practice rather than a separate initiative.
One phrase that stayed with us from Jared’s talks — and continues to resonate across the interconnected work of our member organizations — is:
“Food grounds us in togetherness.”
We have also reflected on the idea that spirituality — distinct from religion — can be understood through lived values such as reciprocity, humility, responsibility, and care for one another and the land.
These conversations have encouraged us to think more deeply about the importance of relationship-building, listening, and community guidance within food systems work. They have also reminded us that meaningful engagement must be grounded in relationships rather than rushed toward outcomes.
We are grateful for the opportunity to continue learning alongside Jared and remain committed to approaching this work in ways that are respectful, reciprocal, and community-guided.
To learn more about Jared’s work, we encourage visiting the Eagle Eye Group website.
Learning From Indigenous Food Sovereignty Leadership
Our understanding of food systems work in this region has been deepened by listening to Indigenous leaders, gatherings, and storytelling projects that centre relationships between land, food, language, culture, and community wellbeing whenever those opportunities present themselves. This has included KCFN members attending the Interior Region Indigenous Food Forum gatherings hosted by Interior Health and the First Nations Health Authority since 2022, where participants have had opportunities to listen and learn from Indigenous leaders, growers, harvesters, Knowledge Keepers, educators, youth, and community members from across the Interior region.
These gatherings have explored themes including:
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relationships between food, land, language, and culture
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intergenerational knowledge sharing and youth involvement
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seed stewardship, harvesting, preservation, and community gardens
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climate resilience and food security
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reciprocity, community care, and relationship-building
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the ongoing impacts of colonization on Indigenous food systems
One of the strongest recurring messages we have heard throughout these gatherings is that food systems work is deeply relational — rooted not only in food access, but also in community connection, cultural continuity, care for the land, and responsibilities to future generations.
We encourage exploring the Interior Region Indigenous Food Forum reports from 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025
to learn more about the conversations, projects, and teachings being shared across the region (and Interior Health posted a nice blog post summary of the recent 2025 gathering over here) for anyone who was not able to attend or would like to learn more in anticipation of future gatherings.
We have also explored these ideas through film. The documentary Tea Creek tells the story of Indigenous food sovereignty work led by Jacob Beaton and his team at a land-based training farm in British Columbia. The film follows their efforts to revitalize Indigenous agricultural knowledge, grow and share culturally appropriate foods, and train future Indigenous food leaders — all in the face of colonial history and contemporary challenges.
Tea Creek has premiered at film festivals and is available through public broadcasters such as CBC Gem. It has also been the centrepiece of local screenings held by KCFN members in both Cranbrook and Kimberley, where the film helped spark community gathering, conversation, and reflection around Indigenous food sovereignty and local food systems work.
For more on the film and the initiative itself, you can visit the official Tea Creek film website or the Tea Creek training initiative site.
From Teachings to Practice
Our reconciliation journey is ongoing.
Within our network, we have reflected on how each of us moves through systems shaped by different experiences, privileges, and barriers. This awareness shapes not only how we approach reconciliation, but how we show up in our day-to-day work across our communities. It invites us to listen before speaking, remain open to correction, and recognize that learning rarely has an endpoint.
We understand this as long-term relationship work — grounded in humility, accountability, and a willingness to keep learning.
Our learning has also been shaped by frameworks such as xaȼqanaǂ ʔitkiniǂ (“Many Ways of Working on the Same Thing”), a Ktunaxa-led research project that offers guiding principles for both research and engagement within the Ktunaxa Nation — particularly for non-Ktunaxa people working in relationship with community. These principles emphasize building meaningful, reciprocal relationships over time rather than following prescribed steps or timelines. They challenge extractive approaches and encourage long-term, relational ways of working — values that closely align with how we are striving to approach food systems work in this region.
Alongside this work, the Seven Generations principle offers another lens — inviting us to consider the long-term impact of our decisions, not only for today, but for those who will come after us. Rooted in Haudenosaunee teachings, this principle challenges short-term thinking and extractive development models, offering a vision of sustainability that is relational, future-focused, and grounded in responsibility.
Taken together, these perspectives reinforce a shift from extraction toward reciprocity — from short-term outcomes toward intergenerational responsibility.
As we continue to apply these learnings within our network, they are shaping how we show up in our work. In practice, this includes:
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Approaching territory acknowledgements as ongoing relationship work grounded in understanding, accountability, and action.
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Continuing to learn through relationships, dialogue, gatherings, and community-led teachings.
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Reflecting on how reciprocity, intergenerational responsibility, and care for land and community can inform the gardens, kitchens, programs, and food systems work we help shape.
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Holding space for ongoing learning and unlearning within our organizations and network.
We recognize that meaningful reconciliation requires time, trust, and humility. We do not claim to have arrived anywhere final and this page will continue to evolve as our relationships, learnings, and work evolve.
Further Resources To Explore
Throughout this page, we’ve shared some of the teachings, frameworks, gatherings, and conversations that have helped shape our collective learning as a local food network so far — but the wealth of resources and knowledge available to those interested in learning more is far broader than we could ever hope to capture here.
Below are a few additional resources that have been shared amongst KCFN members as we continue exploring how reconciliation, relationship-building, and Indigenous food sovereignty connect to our lives, communities, and food systems work. This is not intended to be a complete list, but rather a starting point for continued learning, reflection, and exploration:
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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Calls to Action
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The Ktunaxa Nation Council website and community frameworks
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Interior Health’s Food is Medicine: Indigenous Foodways of the Interior seasonal newsletter, which shares stories, updates, and learnings from Indigenous food systems work across the region
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Indigenous-led journalism such as the Nourish: Food Sovereignty series on The Narwhal featuring reporting by Steph Kwetásel’wet Wood
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The BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer’s Unlearning & Undoing Lab, and related learning opportunities such as the UBC Learning Circle webinar
This page is not intended to be a final statement or definitive guide, but rather a reflection of some of the conversations, relationships, resources, and learning that have helped shape our network’s understanding so far. By sharing parts of our journey, we hope this page can also serve as a useful resource for others exploring similar questions around reconciliation, food systems, community, and relationship-building.
We also recognize that there are many voices, teachings, experiences, and perspectives not captured here, and that this page will continue to evolve as our relationships, conversations, and understanding continue to grow — so f you have suggestions, resources, or would like to connect with us about reconciliation and local food systems work, we welcome the conversation (and will continue updating this page along the way).
Because food not only grounds us in togetherness, but also provides a common ground from which we can reflect on and reconcile how we grow, gather, share, and care for community — together, today and for generations to come.